A UMDNJ paramedic, identified by university officials as Timothy Prahm, adjusts sheets draped over two Northeastern University students working this summer at University Hospital in Newark. Prahm and two other UMDNJ paramedics have been fired, and university officials say an investigation into the July 6 incident continues.

Three paramedics at Newark's University Hospital were fired this week after grainy images taken by a cellphone camera surfaced showing two student interns garbed in white sheets to look like robes of the Ku Klux Klan.

Officials at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which operates the hospital, and its emergency medical services unit, called the episode "ugly and abhorrent," and "not be tolerated at any level."

University president William F. Owen, who disclosed details of the incident on Friday, said one of the paramedics offered to resign, but was terminated instead on Monday. Two others were subsequently fired on Thursday.

UMDNJ officials are still trying to piece together what led to the photos, which they said were taken last Sunday and quickly passed to managers, who wasted little time in taking action.

In one of the photographs released by the university, the trainees - both students from Northeastern University in Boston - stand with white sheets draped over their heads; one carrying a wooden cross held together with surgical gauze and tape. An EMS paramedic in a University Hospital uniform can be seen adjusting the sheet of the other.

The sheets, with holes cut out for the eyes, apparently came from an ambulance.

"You can't make this stuff up. It's like being in Tennessee in the 1950s," said Owen, a Memphis native.

UMDNJ identified the three fired paramedics as Timothy Prahm, Henry Solares and Thomas Hart. None could be immediately reached for comment Friday night.

Officials said none of those involved was a person of color, and the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said it was unaware of the incident and was not currently investigating.

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, which contracts with UMDNJ for emergency medical services, said the episode was "completely unacceptable."

"The City of Newark will not tolerate such behavior by medical professionals, and we are glad that UMDNJ has moved to terminate these individuals," he said in a statement.

Owen said the university is continuing to investigate, but that the incident appeared to be some kind of hazing on the part of EMS workers targeting students from a continuing education program at Northeastern working to become certified paramedics.

University Hospital's emergency medical service is the state's busiest and is used by a number of outside programs for specialized training. Northeastern University has sent students for field internships at the hospital for some years, with 28 students going through the program since 2005, officials said.

EMS workers privately said the hazing of students is not unheard of, but said many were shocked by what occurred on Sunday.

"They get bullied around," said one paramedic. "A year ago, they shaved the kids' heads."

According to Owen, his investigators were told that shortly before the Sunday incident, several EMS workers on break in a conference room were talking about a video downloaded from the web-site You Tube called "The Amazing Racist" - meant to be a racist parody of the CBS show "The Amazing Race."

The video shows a young white man in Klan robes carrying a cross into the store of an African-American shopkeeper in a successful effort to incite a confrontation, and then later bringing the robe into another store for dry-cleaning.

"Sometime after that conversation, they made the cross, took sheets from the EMS service and 'robed' the students," Owen said.

The UMDNJ president said the two students were apparently cajoled into participating, being told, "you need to do this," and "this will give you points toward your grade."

The students, who have not been named, immediately left the campus on Sunday and have not returned to UMDNJ. Officials at Northeastern said they will halt the placement of students with UMDNJ pending further review.

Philomena Mantella, senior vice president at Northeastern, said the two students were coerced into what she called an "appalling and offensive incident." She said the university's staff found alternative placements for the students and offered them counseling.

"We condemn the offenders' atrocious conduct and support President Owen's swift and decisive response and his institution's zero-tolerance philosophy," she said.

Owen said he had called Northeastern's president and provost to apologize.

"They left kids at my house and we didn't take care of them," he said. "We should not have allowed this to happen."

John J. Gerow, president of Teamsters Local 97, which represents the paramedics at University Hospital, said he was still learning details of the incident and was not able to immediately respond.

"I've been representing these folks for 15 years and they are extremely professional," Gerow said. "It's sad if what I'm picking up did take place, because its uncalled for."

Gerow did not know whether any of the paramedics would ask the union for representation. But he said. "Bill Owen is a very sharp guy. I'm sure whatever steps he took needed to be taken."

Owen, meanwhile, said his anger still has not abated.

"This is wrong," Owen said. "This is not UMDNJ, and it's not going to be tolerated at any level."